The Minot Hot Tots are on the second half of the eight game road trip that started last Tuesday, July 16, with the first two of four games at the St. Cloud Rox. The second two of the four games will be Thursday, July 25, and Friday, July 26, before heading back to Minot.

St Cloud 8,

Hot Tots 2

St.Cloud jumped onto the scoreboard first with three runs at the bottom of the third and two more at the bottom of the fourth. With the 5-0 lead going into the top of the fifth, Minot opened their own scoring when Caid Bergthold started with a double to center followed by a single by Keanu Jacobs-Guishard single.

Cody Grebeck singled to right field to score Bergthold. Xavier Esquer then hit a sacrifice fly to score Jacobs-Guishard and narrow the Rox lead 5-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning. St. Cloud added three more runs at the bottom of the fifth inning for the 8-2 lead.

The Hot Tots had one final opportunity as both teams were scoreless in innings six, seven and eight. At the top of the ninth inning of play, Rox pitcher Luke Zmolik was the last man standing between a St. Cloud win or a Minot comeback.

Zmolik threw ten pitches for the three outs and the win.

Minot was 7-for-33 at the plate with two errors as a team. Esquer, Anthony Potestio, Adam Berghult, Brant Boughcum, Bergthold, Jacobs-Guishard and Cody Grebeck each had one hit in the game.

Dale Fry pitched two innings and allowed two runs on three hits, walked one batter and had four strikeouts. Patrick Morris pitched two innings and allowed two runs- one earned- on three hits. Griffin Webb pitched one-third inning and allowed two runs on three hits. Jaden Alberson pitched two and two-third innings and walked two batters with three strikeouts. Jacob Mallozzi pitched one inning of clean work in relief.

St. Cloud was 7-for-28 batting with one error as a team. Jaixen Frost was 2-for-408 with two RBIs and scored two runs in the game. Tyler Bishop was 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs as well.

Kristopher Sosnowski pitched four innings and allowed two runs on three hits with one batter walked and four strikeouts. Kevin Figueredo pitched two innings and allowed one hit.Tyler Hemmesch pitched one inning and allowed two hits. Sam Reed pitched one inning, walked two batters and had one strikeout. Zmolik pitched one inning and allowed one hit in relief.

St. Cloud Rox 6, Hot Tots 4

In a tight contest with the St.Cloud Rox, Minot trailed 0-1 after four innings of play and took a 2-1 lead at the top of the fifth inning of play before St. Cloud scored five runs at the bottom of the same inning.

Minot would add a run at the top of the sixth inning and another at the top of the ninth inning in a game where the Hot Tots outhit the Rox.

Minot was 10-for-36 at the plate. Adam Berghult was 3-for-3 batting with an RBI. Jack Matousek and Nick Alonso were each 2-for-4 at the plate while Blake Penso added one hit in the game.

Ayden Sauerbrei pitched four and two-third innings and allowed six runs on seven hits. He walked two batters, tallied four strikeouts and one home run. Jacob Mallozzi pitched one and one-third innings and allowed one hit and had two strikeouts. Thomas Leiden pitched two innings, allowed one hit, walked one batter and had three strikeouts in relief.

St. Cloud was 9-for-31 batting. Jaixen Frost was 3-for-3 at the plate while Ben Higdon was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Carter Hanson, Jackson Hauge and Brody Williams each added a hit in the win.

Phil Brennaman pitched five innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and had five strikeouts. Nathan Anderson pitched one inning and allowed one run on two hits. Ryan Rushing, Brady Joyner and Brandon Jaenke each pitched one inning in relief.